re: When was the last time bowl games were relevant?

To me watching big time programs come to play in Shreveport as a kid was very relavent. It was a great experience for the teams and for the community. It was exciting it was fun it was a different time. No more.

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I remember watching Iowa State and TCU go to war in a shitty December bowl game

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I remember watching TCU beat USC in the 1998 Sun Bowl. I didn't remember the year, or it being the Sun Bowl, but I vividly remember the game. I was in Sears with my parents to buy some kind of appliance. I was walking around and started watching the game on the TV's in their electronics section. My dad had to come find me when they were done.

LSU played Michigan State in the Independence Bowl in 1995 was a big deal.My dad and I got tickets, and had a great time there.

The Peach Bowl 2000 Peach Bowl win against Georgia Tech was the most fun I'd ever had at an LSU game.

Playing in the Sugar Bowl after 2001 was like a culmination of the program coming out of the wasteland of the Curly Hallman era. Those Indy, and Peach Bowls were part of the rise of something great.

When LSU played Texas in the Cotton Bowl after the 2002 season my dad and I went. I lived in Dallas and renewed the tickets every year through the game after the 2010 season, when I moved back to Louisiana.. Most years I sold them, but I went to the last game in the Cotton Bowl and the first year in the Cowboys stadium. Ole Miss was the SEC team both years. They won both games against Texas Tech one year and OK State the next. Got to see Dexter McCluster christen Jerry World with a long TD. The Ole Miss fans were all over Dallas both times. I know they really enjoyed the games, and I'm pretty sure they were happy to be there.

Before the NCAA sold them out to corporate interests. Paying players will be the final nail. Money ruins everything.

All you meaux feauxs screamed for a playoff.....begged for it. You stupid fricks did not even want to consider that something like this would happen. Did not want to think that you would destroy a perfectly good bowl system that everyone profited from. Ohhhhh, but we got a true national champion....but then you lament that the bowls all start to suck.

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MSU was 3-7. That was the type of matchup that made everybody say there's too many bowl games.

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Yeah I know. They shouldn’t be in a bowl in normal year, just an example of the game on at the time. It would be fun to see a good Tulsa team vs an SEC team.

But it became totally pointless

They are always relevant because I enjoy watching college football.

It's difficult to put a finger on it but it was sometime during the 2010s obviously. But it took something of a process to get to where we are now. First and foremost, ESPN's influence on the sport of college football is the main culprit. They're the ones who pushed hard for the implosion of the BCS after the 2011 college football season. They're the ones who endlessly promoted the BCS National Championship Game and College Football Playoffs at the expense of the other bowls, all while pushing for the creation of more post-season bowl games. In the year 2000, there were 25 bowl games. In 2019 there were 40 bowl games. Conference expansion also had a little to do with it, too, which further cemented the sport of college football as a big business entity. Somewhere along the way it became less about "for love of the game" and more about dollars and cents.